No Small Wonder
by godtierGrammarian
Summary: When the Cave of Ordeals proves to be more than Link can handle, Midna finds herself with his life in her hands. TP.


Somehow when he first heard this place was fifty floors, he'd been confident. Fifty wasn't so much, he'd thought. A monster or two a floor, no problem. But forty-four floors and countless monsters later, fifty seems impossible, and he can hardly feel his feet anymore. The poe in this room took a good chunk out of him; ordinarily a poe isn't such a big deal, but with a gaggle of armored Lizalfos surrounding him, the poe was a challenge, even for him. Now the damned ghost is finally down, along with three of the Lizalfos, but he's not done yet. He quietly signals for Midna to transform him back to his human form, but when he's got thumbs again and he stands up—

 _Oh_.

The world spins, gray noise fizzles on the edges of his vision (very quickly he blinks it back), and the floor seems very far away. The remaining Lizalfos advances, and he unsheathes his sword, muscles screaming in protest. When he moves, he becomes keenly aware of the bite on his elbow where a ReDead got him, and there's a deep gash in his side from a Darknut's blade, and somehow the Bulblin archers on the floor above managed to surprise him; the arrows didn't hit their targets, but as one breezed past his face, its edge just barely caught his cheek, and the fact that it had been flaming hadn't helped at all. All of these wounds seem to cry out at him as he focuses on the final Lizalfos in front of him, but he thinks of Midna in his shadow beneath him, and her determination to save her people, so he clenches his jaw and twirls his sword (only just managing not to drop the thing). The Lizalfos advances, its shield in front of it, and as his eyes search its stance for weaknesses, the noise returns to surround his vision and there's a strange, far-off ringing in his ears. A step, more like a stagger, forward and suddenly he can't fight the exhaustion in his limbs, no matter how much he wants to. Sweat rolls down his chin, and somewhere his hat has fallen off into the dirt, and the sword in his trembling fingers falls in slow motion before it clatters to his boots. He looks down at it, almost surprised because one moment it was in his hand and the next it wasn't— but then he notices the blood soaking the earth beneath his feet and he realizes from the heat in his side and the Lizalfos' breath sticky on his neck that it must be his. Somewhere there's a distant voice calling beyond the blood pounding in his ears, but he can hardly make it out, and suddenly the ground rushes to meet his face and darkness overtakes him.

.

.

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Midna has never been so scared in her life. He's down. He's down, and he's not getting up. This has never happened before, not even when they were fighting through the bowels of the Arbiter's Grounds, the temple he'd sworn was hell in disguise. He'd fallen before, yes, but he'd gotten right back up, a blue fire in his eyes, staggering to his feet to keep fighting even when there were two ReDead Knights vying to get a taste of him and he'd lost so much blood. Even when there was a floor full of the Snowpeak enemies he hated so much, he'd just shaken off the ice that had frozen to his tunic and kept hacking away at them.

But now he's down, he's really down, and his jaw is slack, his fingers shaking, and his sword is on the ground beneath him. From his shadow, Midna realizes dully that all the bottles in his pouch are empty, he has no more fairies to spare, and the armored Lizalfos is closing in, its face bent grotesquely into something like a smirk. It hefts its weapon and—

Midna moves as fast as she can, summoning a connection with the first portal she thinks of, and then she's warping them, not even bothering to transform him into a wolf (she's only got one shot at this, she concentrates hard, an image of his human form burning at the forefront of her mind, she has to get him there in one piece, she has to get this right) and the next thing she knows, they're dropping into Kakariko Village, right at the edge of the spring (the landing is a little rough, and she winces, because all of her energy was consumed in getting him here alive, not on the landing, and she just hopes the impact doesn't kill him before blood loss does).

Thankfully Link landed half in the water, and the spirit's spring has healing properties. Midna rights herself and pants beside him, shaken, and even she can feel energy seeping back into her limbs where the water laps against her skin. But its healing is a slow process, and his wounds, especially the new one, are going to require attention. Now. Midna hauls herself to her feet and surveys her surroundings, her hands resting on her hips. It's dark here (she's surprised; she was trapped in that cave for so long the time escaped her), but the sky is lightening rapidly. She knows day will come soon, but not soon enough.

She is left with a predicament. Midna knows she's no beauty by Hyrulean standards. One look at her and the children will be screaming "Monster!" just like they do whenever Link happens to lope into town wearing his wolf form. The village will be sent into chaos and no one will notice the boy bleeding out into the spring. For a brief moment she considers her ability to take on other appearances (like she did once to Link when they were first leaving Hyrule Castle for the first time, taking the forms of his screaming friends to remind him of his motives, and maybe to freak him out a little) but that guise is weak and the magic short-lived, and the people of Kakariko would notice if a stranger walked into town and then disappeared. It isn't natural for something like that to happen, even here, where a baby runs a shop and a bumbling, cowardly oaf sells bombs. She finally notices the fairies flitting above the water further down the spring (that's new, but she remembers vaguely that the Great Fairy released fairies here some floors back). To Midna's frustration, the fairies are too far away to notice her, or, more importantly, Link, and hell if she's going to drag him toward them or chase them toward him. That'll only waste time, and he needs help now.

Balling her fists with frustration, Midna glances at Link's prone, bleeding form, and she makes up her mind.

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Colin wakes before dawn to the sound of Epona's song being played on the reeds by the spring. It's as familiar to him as the sound of his own name on his own ears, and he springs to his feet before his mind realizes he's awake, because there's only one thing that sound can mean.

Link!

He hasn't seen Link for weeks, probably, not since Ilia got her memory back. The last he saw of Link, he was riding off on Epona, probably to save Hyrule and have an adventure. Colin grins as he thinks of the stories he'll have to tell this time.

He tears down the stairs of the Elde Inn and is already working to unlock the door before it occurs to him that Link left town on Epona, so he should be riding back into town on her back, not calling her here, right? And besides, Ilia gave him that charm to call Epona with, so why would he need to use the reeds? All of a sudden Colin's hands are cold, and his fingers fumble at the lock, but finally he wrenches the door open and charges down the village's only street toward the spring.

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By the time the boy finds Link, Midna's back in his shadow, spitting from the taste of horse grass in her mouth. She thanks the goddesses that worked, though, and her heart finally starts beating normally once Colin shouts for Renado and the shaman appears, regal even in his nightclothes (he looks a little surprised to see the fairies floating above the water). Ilia comes, too, and she helps the shaman carry Link's dripping body to Renado's hut, where right away they start to peel off his bloodied tunic and mail to inspect his wounds.

Once she's sure her hero will live, Midna can no longer fight the exhaustion in her limbs. Comfortably swathed in Link's shadow, she lets the wave of gray noise envelop her, and she sinks into gentle and much-needed sleep.

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Link wakes in a bed in the Elde Inn. Every inch of him aches, and he has no idea how he got here or why Beth and Luda are wrapping his fingers in bandages (when they realize he's awake, Luda apologetically unwraps them and Beth runs for Renado). He attempts to sit up but sharp pain sends him reeling back into the pillows, teeth clenched in discomfort. All at once he remembers the Cave of Ordeals, and as he works it out in his head he realizes there's only one way he got here.

Midna.

He resolves to thank her, later, for saving his life, because that's what she did, after all. He also resolves to bring more fairies with him next time he even thinks about completing the Cave's trials, and also not to jump head-first into the forty-fourth floor.

Then Renado steps into the room, serene and stern, his large form all but blocking out Beth, who peeps around him as he speaks.

"It is no small wonder that Colin found you when he did," the shaman says. "And it is certainly no coincidence you were found in the spring of the great spirit Eldin. The blessing of the goddesses must be upon you, Link of Ordon, for you were quite possibly on the fringe of death."

Link rests a hand on the swath of bandages covering what seems like his entire top half, and he can believe it.

"Rest now," Renado says, and turns to the girls. "Watch over him carefully," he instructs them, and they nod importantly, Beth going so far as to get right in Link's face and stare directly at him. His discomfort must show on his face because Renado adds with some humor in his voice, "Not that carefully."

Beth steps back, a blush of embarrassment on her face, and Renado addresses his daughter. "Fetch me at once if anything happens."

Luda nods obediently and Renado exits, just as serenely as he came.

The girls content themselves with sitting on the bed across the room, close enough to keep watch but far enough away that their whispering won't keep Link awake. He leans back into the pillows and sighs, and what energy he had in his limbs evaporates like water in the noonday sun.

Before he falls into sleep, however, he turns his head so the girls won't see and whispers to his shadow, "Thank you."

"It was nothing," his shadow replies, a bit self-consciously, before falling silent again.

It was obviously more than nothing from the way she's so quiet. But she's not one to play hero. She does prefer to stick to the shadows, after all.

Link closes his eyes and when he finally falls asleep there's a smile resting comfortably across his face.

She is no small wonder, his imp.

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 **A/N: This is just one of the many times she saved his life, in one way or another.**

 **This story's been sitting at the back of my mind for ages. I'm not sure it came out exactly like I originally intended, but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless. It was nothing too big, just a peek into a day in the life of everyone's favorite hero (by that I mean Midna; and if she's not your favorite you're obviously lying to yourself).**

 **Reviews are much appreciated (and so are favorites, if you're shy).**

 **Yours sincerely,**

 **godtierGrammarian**


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